Fog grips North India as cold wave spreads across central and southern states

A thick winter haze is settling over large parts of India, with the weather office issuing fog and cold wave alerts through December 14. Dense to very dense fog has disrupted early travel in Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad, though temperatures in the capital remain slightly above the mid-December norm. The IMD has warned of very dense fog in Uttar Pradesh and varying fog conditions across Haryana, Punjab, Odisha and the Northeast until December 16. A cold wave is tightening its hold over Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, West Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, and is likely to extend into Telangana and North Interior Karnataka. A weak Western Disturbance may bring light rain or snow to the northern mountains from December 13.

Climate change intensified South and Southeast Asia floods, finds analysis 

Climate change helped supercharge the November floods that killed more than 1,600 people across South and Southeast Asia, according to a rapid World Weather Attribution study. Three cyclones, including the powerful Ditwah and Senyar, unleashed torrential rain and over $20 billion in damage from Sri Lanka to Indonesia.

Warmer Indian Ocean waters — about 0.2°C above normal — likely strengthened the storms by providing extra heat and moisture. Researchers say the oceans would have been around 1°C cooler without human-driven warming. The disaster was magnified by monsoon timing, rapid urbanisation and deforestation, which funnelled extreme rainfall into catastrophic flooding.

2025 may become one of hottest years on record as 2023-2025 could cross 1.5°C threshold

Global warming has raced ahead since 2023, pushing 2025 toward becoming one of the hottest years ever recorded. Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service shows temperatures from January to November sitting 1.48°C above the pre-industrial average, putting the 2023–2025 period on course to be the first three-year stretch above the 1.5°C mark. The spike has been steep: 2023 alone jumped 0.3°C over 2022, and 2024 became the first year to exceed 1.5°C for the full annual average. Scientists say the scale of warming since 2023 can’t be explained by El Niño or reduced pollution alone. Research now indicates the world may be entering a new climate era, with temperatures likely to stay above 1.5°C for decades without drastic emissions cuts.

1.3 million São Paulo residents still without power after severe winds topple trees, ground flights

Power outages gripped São Paulo, leaving over 1.3 million residents in the dark after winds of nearly 100 kmph brought down hundreds of trees and crippled the city’s grid. Utility Enel said it had restored electricity to more than half of affected customers, but around 300,000 people lost power again through the day. Crews are now rebuilding sections of the network entirely, with no timeline for full restoration.

The storm also triggered nearly 400 flight cancellations, mainly at Congonhas airport. City officials, who clashed with Enel over its slow response, reported 231 fallen trees. The outages have disrupted water supply, forced residents to work from cafés and malls, and fuelled public anger after repeated blackouts this year.

Amazon may be heading toward a “hypertropical” climate unseen for 10 million years

New research warned the Amazon rainforest is drifting toward a climate state so extreme it last existed in the Eocene and Miocene eras between 40 million and 10 million years ago. By 2100, the region could face up to 150 days a year of intense hot drought, even during the wet season, if emissions stay high, according to a study published in Nature.

Researchers found that during severe droughts, trees shut down water and CO₂ exchange, risking embolisms in their xylem and eventual death. Annual tree mortality could climb from just above 1% today to 1.55% by century’s end, reshaping the forest with slow-growing species more likely to survive.

The study suggested other tropical forests may be on the same trajectory, with major consequences for the global carbon cycle.

Mars plays a bigger role in Earth’s long-term climate than previously thought: Study 

Earth’s ice ages and warm periods are shaped by slow shifts in its orbit and tilt, driven by gravitational nudges from other planets. Scientists already knew Jupiter and Venus were major players, but new modelling shows Mars also has a surprisingly strong hand in steering these climate rhythms.

Researchers tested what would happen if Mars had no mass, or up to ten times its current mass. The results were stark. One of Earth’s key long-term climate cycles — a 2.4-million-year rhythm seen in geological records — disappears entirely when Mars is removed. The red planet also helps shape the 100,000-year cycles linked to ice ages and even alters the familiar 41,000-year wobble in Earth’s tilt.

This indicates that Mars keeps parts of Earth’s climate system in tune. The finding also has implications for understanding climates on Earth-like exoplanets, where neighbouring planets could make or break long-term habitability.